Ryan Meza is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Perry High School for AZPreps365.com

It was a 6A Premier Region rematch on Tuesday between No. 3-ranked Brophy Prep and No. 4-ranked Perry. Similar to their first meeting two weeks ago, Brophy proved to be the superior team with a 61-46 victory on the road at Dan Serrano Gymnasium.

Early in the first quarter, both teams were scoring back and forth like a game of ping pong which led to an even score of 18 to end the quarter.

Kyle Waters led Perry with six points in the first quarter, but that is all Brophy would allow him. The Puma senior guard was held scoreless for the remainder of the game. Waters’ frustrations earned him an early exodus. After committing his fourth personal foul late in the final quarter, he earned a technical foul, which counts as a fifth, and game-disqualifying, infraction.

Perry head coach Sam Duane and his Puma squad had difficulty executing their offense against the length and quickness of a seasoned Brophy team.

“That's their defense,” Duane said. “They’re physical and they defend well. They're very good.”

Perry junior guard Ben Egbo drives past Brophy Prep's Miles Nash to meet Arman Madi at the rim on the fastbreak.

Brophy’s defensive intensity smothered Perry in the second quarter as it finished the half on a 20-9 run. The Broncos dared Perry to take outside shots throughout the game, which worked in their favor as Perry was unable to coax the ball to fall between the iron.

“I mean, obviously they're the biggest team in the state,” Brophy junior guard Arman Madi said. "Just giving them the least amount of touches inside and make them shoot from outside [was the defensive game plan].”

“We just try to defend as a group,” Brophy head coach Matt Hooten added. “We know it’s not going to be one guy and one guy, but we really have to defend as a unit.”

Brophy held Perry to five points in the third quarter.

The defensive half of the court gave Perry trouble as well, as Brophy controlled the offensive tempo, led by Madi. The junior guard finished an all-around game with 20 points, two assists, six rebounds and four steals.

“Tonight was a big game for us,” Madi said. “We beat them the first time, but you know we got to prove we're a consistent team and I got to prove I’m a consistent player.”

Early on, Madi and the Broncos were procurinng anything they wanted offensively, which forced Perry to switch to a 1-3-1 zone in order to better control the pace of the game.

“They were killing us on dribble penetration kick-outs,” Duane said. “We were not guarding the ball very well, so we were trying to stop penetration and a little change of pace. It got us going a little bit.”

Perry cut the lead down to eight points early in the fourth when it showed a full-court press, then dropped back into the 1-3-1 zone. Perry freshman guard Koa Peat led the charge in the final quarter; he finished with 15 points.

However, the Broncos’ stampede was too strong for the Pumas to hold off as Brophy pulled away with the 15-point win.

Throughout conference play, Perry has an impressive record of 11-2. Nonetheless, both of those losses are to the Brophy boys.

“I think they’re a little more mature than we are right now as a team,” Duane said. “We gotta become more mature as a team and understand where we’re at and where we’re going.”

Frustrations from missed shots and missed calls, as well as Brophy's defensive pressure, exasperated the Pumas throughout the latter half of the game.

“We didn't have good composure and that again, goes back to maturity,” Duane said. “Those are the two things we didn’t have tonight: composure and maturity.”

Perry has another opportunity to redeem itself on the road against their Premier Region rivals, Hamilton, on Thursday night.